The 2024 season of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has been full of surprises, records, and exciting matches.
Let’s see the state of the NWSL as it is heading into Matchday 21 out of 26 in the regular season.
San Diego Wave break away with a win in Utah
On September 14th, 2024, the San Diego Wave (4-9-7) broke a several game-losing streak against the Utah Royals (4-13-3) at the America First Field.
It was only their fourth win of the season, despite having won the NWSL Shield last season and made it to the semi-finals of the league.
This season looks different for the Wave, established in 2021 as a new team expansion in the NWSL.
During their first three years, the Wave hit the ground running, adding Abby Dahlkemper and Alex Morgan to the team.
They also managed to sign rookie Naomi Girma, now a staple of the United States National Women’s Soccer team and the leader in Wave's back line.
Yet this season they have only managed to squeak out four wins. In comparison, in their 2023 season, they got eleven wins, four draws, and seven losses.
This season has brought a lot of instability for the Wave, after firing 2023 Coach of the Year Casey Stoney and rotating through two interim head coaches (Paul Buckle and former USMNT legend Landon Donovan).
During the mid-season Abby Dahlkemper moved to Bay FC before Alex Morgan announced retiring as she is expecting another child.
With a few matches remaining in the regular season, the Wave will have to find a way to book a place in the play offs.
Additionally, San Diego are taking part in the Concacaf Women’s Champions Cup, playing on September 18th, 2024 at Snapdragon Stadium at 7pm PT against the Portland Thorns in a bid to contend for the first ever cup of its kind in the women’s game.
The Royals may also be out of play-off calculations, but that doesn’t mean that their season is thrown away.
They play current number 3 seed, NY/NJ Gotham FC on September 22nd, 2024 and Racing Louisville on September 28th, 2024.
Gotham is currently fighting to clinch home pitch advantage.
A win for Racing would potentially put them in play-off contention for the final eighth spot. Utah could certainly ruin the plan for several teams in the coming days.
Orlando Pride and Washington Spirit clinched a play-offs spot
Speaking of the NWSL season changes, 2024 has been the year of the Orlando Pride.
In 2023, the Pride finished seventh with 31 points for the whole season, and thus, they did not make the 2023 playoffs.
The Pride have had a record season, winning fourteen games and drawing six. They have had zero losses so far this season. They sit at the top of the NWSL standings with an outstanding 48 points.
When asked about the Pride's recent performances, defender Cori Dyke said:
“I think we’re feeling pretty good. We’ll take another shutout. I think this defensive unit works so well together and works so hard. We’re definitely proud of the shutout but obviously we wanted the three points because that’s our standard. But can never complain about a shutout.”
Behind the Pride, we have Michele Kang's Washington Spirit who are currently sitting in second place and also sealed home pitch advantage for the playoffs.
They sit at 44 points, with 14 wins. However, they have drawn two games and lost four.
This is a great turnaround for the Spirit, who saw Trinity Rodman sit out her first game of the 2024 season due to a late red card in her final 2023 season game.
Hal Hershfelt, a midfielder for the Spirit and teammate of Rodman, is proud of the growth of the team:
“I think it is a testament to how great our team and our staff is. We’ve had a lot change this season. We had an interim coach. We had new coaches come in, new players, and I feel like we still kept our momentum which says a lot about how much we’ve been working and how hard we’ve been working. So, it’s just really cool, especially for my first year, to be apart of a group like this.”
Eight clubs qualify this year for the 2024 NWSL playoffs, with four quarterfinal matches, followed by the semifinals and the big awaited final.
A Tight Race Between The Trio: Bay FC, Racing Louisville, and Angel City FC
As the playoffs are approaching week after week, the NWSL standings are becoming one of the most complicated formulas to predict.
Each standing relies on the status of other teams. At the bottom of the playoff table, we see three teams fighting for the final spot.
Bay FC currently sits in the eighth spot, the final playoff spot. They currently sit at 8-1-11, having gathered 25 points.
Their last game against the North Carolina Courage saw them pull in their first draw of their history.
Beneath them, in ninth place, are Racing Lousieville. They sit currently at 5-7-8, with 22 points.
In their quest for qualification, they recently acquired Bethany Balcer and Janine Beckie, who both scored goals in their recent 2-1 win over Angel City FC.
However, Louisville does face top-six NWSL standing teams in four of their last six season games, which could put their season in danger.
Coach Bev Yanez is proud of the growth of his team and the steps they’ve taken to make the playoff race so tight.
“We have to acknowledge and take into account that our past is not who we are. We have learned. We have grown. We have become better. We have become stronger because of how the season has played out so far early on and that those aren’t a reflection of who we are today.”
In a tight tenth place is Angel City FC with a record of 6-3-11 and 21 points.
Having lost recently to Racing Louisville, the west coast team is looking to learn and grow from their season's ups and downs.
Coach Becki Tweed discussed recently, after the loss to Louisville, that the team persisted despite having two goals canceled by video assistant referee (VAR):
“Obviously, coming back from two calls VAR is tough but I actually think it helps us to grow. I think we were pushing and pushing and pushing. We put the ball in the back of the net four times.”
With gameday 21 out of 26 coming up, these three teams could shift in any variety of ways.
